Dark Portal I: The Ruins of Mata Nui
The Ruins of Mata Nui is the first chapter of the overarching storyline of Dark Portal, which takes place in the Jinok Alternate Universe. It was originally written in 2009 and has since been translated to English. The Arrival It was an odd sight: Mata Nui was completely destroyed. The once beautiful island was now only pieces of debris swimming in the water. And all around it was just water as well. Gesikk, an emissary of Bara Magna, was tasked to search for a captured Glatorian at this place who was once send with a group of scouts to the island only to be captured by strange „Toa“ and hidden beneath the surface. Since the island had broken open it was easier to get to the inside. There were all kinds of different Rahi here: From Genonak to Takea sharks, which swam in the waters between the debris. Gesikk spotted a cave. Presumably not a cave of a Genonak as one could tell it was an old tunnel. Gesikk entered. As his elements were both jungle and stone he was able to see in the dark. He ventured deeper when he suddenly heard a cracking and sputtering. The cave filled with water!!! He ran but the water was faster. It catched up and pulled him deep beneath. He felt a hand at his back though which carried him away. He already had water in his lungs and passed out. When he finally awoke he found himself in a dimly lit cave. A small yellow Matoran looked at him. „Who are you?“ Gesikk asked. „I am Nagaari“ said the Matoran. „I saw you walking into the cave and followed you. When the flood came and got you I was barely able to save you. But I also have a question: Who are you? What do you want here? Where do you come from?“ Gesikk replied: „I am Gesikk, an emissary of Bara Magna. Ich was send by the Kingdom of the Skrall to find a missing Glatorian.“ Nagaari: „I have heard that a warrior should explore here with three other dark beings. Our heroes of the past, the Toa Nuva, killed his followers and hid the „Glatorian“ somewhere beneath Mata Nui. You have to understand that this island has once been a paradise. Though swarms of Bohrok burned everything down. Also Mata Nui had been awakened. That completely destroyed everything. I can‘t even tell you if the Glatorian is still alive.“ New Acquaintances „I can‘t stay here any longer.“ said Gesikk. „My task is important and you‘re bothering me!“ he exclaimed. He knocked down the nearby lamp and threw a mighty punch against the door which shattered to pieces. „You small midget can‘t even stop me to escape this rotten „house“!“ he screamed at the small Nagaari and walked the cave‘s corridor to the exit. As he was already used to the darkness of the cave he was blinded at first. When he could eventually orientate himself he noticed a foul stench. A dead Takea shark laid in the water where crabs and similar creatures had already attached themselves to the body. „Cursed island!“ he screamed towards the dead shark and kicked a stone which flew against the small crabs. He trudged on. „Curses.“ he thought. „In my hometown of Roxtus we never saw these things. No rotten critters, no small nags or this slimy puddle water.“ He trudged on angrily until he suddenly noticed a noise. He turned around and sawa white figure which scwoled at him. „Who are you?“ the figure asked. „Why do you care?“ he asked back and drew his blade. „Whoa, someone goes violent already!“ and the white one grabbed his weapon. Gesikk made a sprint towards him. He held up his weapon, but the other was cunning. He jumped to the side and took a rock that laid about. He slung it at Gesikk‘s helmet and that one fell back down and crashed into a rock. Then the figure took his weapon and put it at Gesikk‘s neck.. „You lost, stranger!“ he shouted. Suddenly a beam of water catched him and flung him away three metres. A blue figure jumped down a cliff and exclaimed: „Viro! You can‘t simply attack others!“ Dripping wet Viro got up and looked at the blue one angrily. „He attacked! I only defended myself!“ As Gesikk was bored of that conversation he snuck away behind a cliff. Here he took a smaller stone and watched the two hidden away. In the meantime Viro had turned around and began to walk away. The blue being followed him. Gesikk grabbed the stone and threw it with a precise throw at his back of the head. „Ouch!“ Viro yelled. „Dephiza, do you really want to pick a fight with me?!“ he screamed. Gesikk grinned and ran away. The Attack He only managed to get five metres forward when the boulder next to him suddenly blew apart and a few rocks hit him. “What the..?” he meant to say, but he was already grabbed by a massive hand and pulled into the air. He looked into a strange face. The mask the thing wore was partly broken and fixed with all kinds of pieces. In the giant’s chest was a burned hole which was fixed with effort but only half-heartedly. His hand was missing a finger. One leg seemed to have been cut off, as a very unfitting one replaced it. “Who are you half dead zombie-giant?” Gesikk asked tauntingly. He received no reply and was released instead and crashed to the ground. “Half dead zombie?” the being exclaimed, “I am Axonn, Warden of the Order of Mata Nui!” “Oh, how interesting” said Gesikk and pulled himself up. He looked Axonn into the eyes and said: “Do you even know how little I care about who you are and what rank you have?” Do you know how much I don’t care?” he asked and and pulled out his Thornax launcher. He took a Thornax fruit out of his old bag, showed it to Axonn and asked: “Do you know what this is? No? This is an overripe Thornax fruit. If it hits someone, it explodes. Do you want to have a taste?” he asked sneeringly and put the Thornax into his launcher. Axonn looked at him deprecatively. Gesikk fired and the fruit hit Axonn’s upper arm, which caused him to scream as it exploded - he held the wound with his other arm. “For this,” he said, “you will pay.” Axonn grabbed with his hand the next best boulder and threw it at Gesikk. That one could barely bend down or he would’ve been hit by the boulder. Now that Axonn missed, he grew angrier. He threw his axe but missed again. He formed a ball of lava after another and threw them at Gesikk, but that one was too fast and dodged again and again. The floor soon started to brew and smoke started to rise as the lava had molten the rocks. Gesikk was standing on a preserved boulder and Axonn was standing in the middle of a small rocky island in the middle of the brewing mass. The small rocky island slowly sunk in the lava like a boat with a hole. The lava catched Axonn’s feet. That one screamed but couldn’t defend himself of his own power. Gesikk said at the end: “Well. That many muscles and still you sink, without me even attacking. Good bye, fatty.” In his death Axonn screamed once more, but then after two minutes there was silence. Gesikk left the site and went on. “This damn Glatorian has to be somewhere!” he thought. Traitors to the Order He had been on his way for half an hour. Only crumbled stones and slabs as far as the eye could see. But then after some time he discovered a cave with an inscription up in the rocky surface. It read: TRAITORS TO THE ORDER OF MATA NUI. Gesikk entered. It was pitch dark and a constant dripping was audible. Gesikk went further into the cave. Suddenly he stumbled on something: A dead warden! Gesikk looked around further. As he got used to the darkness he spotted even more dead wardens. “Ew! Who is responsible for this? And who will clean this?” he thought. Then he spotted, inside an old and rotten cell, a green being laying on the ground - a Toa of Plantlife. He didn’t really want to look around for a key, so he broke open the lock with his saber. The Toa was half blocked up and Gesikk could only get her out with a lot of effort. He pulled her out into the open daylight. There he layed her down and checked her pulse. “She’s alive.” he thought relieved, “But what shall I do now? I can’t let her lay here, so there’s only one option: I have to find this Garrzo. The Order of Bara Magna has told me of him and that he’s here. I’ll go find him!” he decided. Gesikk collected a few sticks which were lying about and bound them together with ropes. He layed the Toa on it and bound her onto it. But all of this was for nothing because he heard a voice behind him. He turned around and yelled: “Hey! Why do all of you have to come from behind? But wait, aren’t you this Garrzo?” he asked. “Yes. And I saw your dire situation. We can heal her in my hideout.” Garrzo replied. “That will take half an eternity until we get there.” Gesikk said. “No. I just found an Olmak between the debris.” he replied again and grabbed Gesikk and the green Toa. Suddenly the ground was yanked away beneath Gesikk’s feet and everything around him was spinning. Not much later he crashed onto the ground of Garrzo’s hideout. “Let’s see what I can do for her.” Garrzo said to himself and opened a closet. Gesikk was amazed by it’s contents. He spotted all different kinds of mixtures and even parts of a Thornax fruit. “Wow.” Gesikk stated. At the last second Later Garrzo had finally found a cure. The Toa was now resting on a stony barrow. Gesikk walked to her and asked Garrzo: “When will she wake up?” “Now.” she replied herself. “Oh. What’s your name?” Gesikk asked her. “I am Vastara. But I’d also like to know who you two are and why I’m bound here.” Vastara wanted to know. “I am Garrzo and the one who saved you is Gesikk. I gave you a cure. But now tell us what brought you into that prison.” Garrzo said. “Ah, these fools of the Order of Mata Nui. They needed someone being guilty for a murder. As I was there coincidentally I was immediately called guilty. When the earthquake came everything collapsed. Und why, Gesikk, did you save me?” she asked. “Uhm… well… ich just needed someone to… help… with my… important mission.” he stuttered. At the next day Gesikk and Vastara sat outside quite early and observed the sea. The sun was just rising and they were blinded. Thereupon they got up and went for a short walk. “You, Vastara, I need to talk with you. We have to get away from here quickly, I don’t trust this Garrzo.” Gesikk said. “Why? Did he do something?” Vastara asked. “No, not yet. But there’s something shadowy about him.” Gesikk replied. So they walked further. Suddenly they spotted something: A kind of door which was embedded into the stone. But there was something odd about this door: It was black and surrounded by shadows so no sunlight was reflected back from it. “Strange. Shall we look what’s behind it?” Gesikk asked. “If you want. Why not?” Vastara replied. At the same time Garrzo sat with Viro and Dephiza on a nearby boulder. “What are they doing there?” Viro wanted to know. “That” Garrzo said, “is the Dark Portal. We have to stop them from going in there.” And immediately the three jumped down the boulder. “Gesikk! Vastara! Don’t go! You’ll bring time itself into disarrangement!” Garrzo yelled. “You can’t even stop me!” Gesikk screamed back. At the last second as Gesikk was just about to touch the door, Viro froze him and Vastara was washed away by Dephiza. “That just went well.” Viro said. The Dark Portal Vastara got up. She was very angry at those guys who froze Gesikk. So she grew a tree which she smashed into the ice. Gesikk was freed. Both were now furious. Gesikk grabbed his staff and smashed it onto Viro. Though he missed him again and again, as that one was very flexible and thus hard to hit. Viro shot again and again with his Midak Skyblaster but Gesikk could block as well. So the fight seemed to be endless. Tavasa had already wounded Dephiza but that one didn’t give up. She continued to shoot lighting at Vastara. At the end both were exhausted. But responsible for the end of the fight was Garrzo who hit Gesikk and Vastara hard into their stomaches. Both flew back and hit the rock hard. They got back up but realized their hopeless situation. With the last of her power Vastara grew twines and shackled Dephiza and Viro. Vastara packed Viro and Gesikk grabbed Dephiza and they touched the door. They felt the shadows around them which seemed to drill through them. Everything spinned. She couldn’t hold Viro anymore and let him go. After two minutes she passed out. Garrzo, who was still standing outside jumped after them quickly but was already too late. The gate became smaller and so he was pulled without his lower legs into the endless darkness. After a short time the lost consciousness and only awoke after he hit the ground hard. Characters The Stranger *Gesikk Toa Dakis *Toa Viro *Toa Dephiza *Toa Garrzo *Toa Vastara Others *Nagaari *Axonn *A few Wardens (Deceased)